Down the tubes

The sun was shining; the air was fresh. The car hummed along the quiet B roads towards its destination. 2005 wasn't a vintage year for car's, but this little ford KA was special to the passengers. Four of the best friends squished up together: talking and laughing. On a fun day out. Day's like this are when memories are made.

Emma was the driver of the car. Her hair was mousy and wavey. It swept from one side to another as she joined in with the general chatter. Her smile was infectious and carefree. She was a safe driver usually even though she had not been driving for very long. When she had passed her driving test this was what she had imagined. Road trips with the gang to exciting places. Day's out with her boyfriend Sam who sat behind her now. She had only made one mistake that was quite a while ago now. Just like the day, everything seemed perfect between them. They would move in together soon and that was what she wanted deep down. The sun was shining: everything was alright.

"Oh my god! stop! The light is red!" screamed Holly from the passenger seat. Emma reacted by slamming on the brakes hard. They jerked agressivly to a stop. Luckily she wasn't travelling too fast. Although the car overran the white line it didn't pull out as far as the junction.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" Asked James from the back seat. Emma didn't answer. She felt shocked but also embarrassed. She could no longer see the light, so she would have to guess when the light went green. The car behind angrily beeped. That was their cue to get back on their way, but no longer to the sound of light chatter, but silence.

"It's not your fault babe" Sam reassured her as they got out of the car. His voice was hushed, so the other two couldn't hear it. Emma smiled back at him: this time it wasn't an infectious smile, but a mournful one. She felt bad for putting all her friends in danger like that. Why hadn't she realised the light wasn't green?

"C'mon hurry up! There are some flumes I want to ride" James shouted back to them. As he was halfway down the car park already. He was always the more childish member of the group: he always seemed to have the most fun. The water flumes were visible on the outside of the structure. Multi-coloured tubes jutting out at weird angles made the whole place look like something from out of space. There was a small queue at the reception desk. As usual, Holly was over flirtatious with James her hands around his waist. Emma wasn't sure they were even official at this point, but she was glad that they seemed happy.

The girls and boys separated. They went to go and get changed into their swimwear. A twang of jealously hit Emma when she saw Holly in her bikini. Holly might have been her long time friend, but still, she couldn't help feel that way. Her hair was bleached blond and after all, she was very gorgeous. Growing up Holly had received a lot more attention than Emma, but any sense of jealousy hadn't hit her till now.

"I can't believe you got with him" Emma blurted out as Holly was checking herself out in a mirror.

"Well it's only a bit of fun" holly admitted rather honestly

"But won't it get weird if you guys break up!?" Emma asked in response. Holly didn't break her gaze with the mirror and continued to stare at herself vainly "No, it's fine. It's not like we're a couple or anything"

By the time the girls finally left the changing rooms the boys had been waiting for over ten minutes. No doubt James was dying to get on some of the more thrilling slides and Sam was getting withdrawals from not seeing his darling girlfriend. The pair looked hacked off, but their expressions soon lighten when they saw the girls. Emma couldn't shake a feeling of slight unease.

There was a massive pool in the centre of the building with stairs leading up to different levels and different slides. It was packed with families enjoying them selfs along with thrill-seekers. There was no stopping James he was off. Heading up the stairs to the tallest of the flumes. He said nothing but gestured towards them to follow him. There was no easing themselves in. They were heading up to the top.

Emma wouldn't like to admit it, but out of all of them, she was the most apprehensive about following James lead after all that had got her into a lot of trouble before. She could feel it, she could sense it. Sam staring at Holly. She didn't blame him, but she knew he wouldn't admit to it. Being jealous seemed rather unfair as he had done nothing wrong, but she had. Sam turned around and encouraged Emma to keep up.

"They call this one the cheater" James stated as they all finally caught up with him. Emma couldn't help herself from feeling embarrassed. Her eyes could only find the floor. The gaps revealing it was a long way down.

"It's called that because it's the fastest slide. Not because it gets drunk and hooks up with other slides" he joked laughing to himself. Emma felt sick he had promised he wouldn't tell anyone. It was a mistake, but still, he continued to toy with her.

"So is this the fastest one? I want to go first" Sam tried to act impressive towards the girls.

"Dam straight, but I'm going first. You can come next" James said as he didn't let Sam past, but instead, he stepped into the mouth of the water slide. The traffic light was green and it was ready to swallow him.

"See you losers at the bottom" he cried out as he was eaten. Taken away out of sight. The light turned red.

Sam slid down the slide with real pace. It was thrilling even to him. It was the first time he had felt happy in a while. His plan was coming together nicely. As he neared the halfway stage of his journey down. He sat up and slowed himself right down. He honestly had no idea if this would even work, but he needed some form of payback he couldn't go on like this. As the slide entered a straight section he stoped himself completely. He took out two shiny razor blades from his trunk pockets. He couldn't possibly imagine this would work, but to his grim joy, the first razor blade slotted neatly into the gap between the sections. He smiled to himself. He shuffled himself down further and attempted to wedge another razor blade in the slit. This time it didn't go in so easy. He cut himself in the process, but he didn't feel the pain. He just thought of his sweet revenge. Now that his work is done he shuffled away down the slide.

"What's taking him so long" Holly moaned as she looked up at the red light. "I'm not even sure I want to do this". Emma couldn't stomach the situation for much longer she knew that James would tell sooner or later. He would enjoy it. Maybe it would be better for her to tell him first? Sam could tell something was up. He was next-in-line for the slide, but he came over to her. She couldn't bear to look him in the eye.

"You don't have to ride this one if you don't want to" Sam said with a calm tone trying to reassure her. He lifted her softly by the chin and forced her to look into his eyes.

"We can just go back and wait at the bott--"

"No, it's not that we really need to talk" She injected quickly. Looking into his handsome and kind face. She regretted it more than ever. She would tell him it was the only way or it would consume her. As much as she tried to be easygoing and carefree this was playing on her mind all too much.

"Okay we can talk" Sam said softly

"Finally! I'm going to get this over with if you two are messing around" Called out Holly. The light now had turn green and she had flung herself carefree into the tube.

"You know I love you" Emma said trying not to burst into tears

"I know" Sam said.